Date unknown, Location: Pursuing Diviticus, Time since Awakening: ~30 hours
More screams and cackling. The soft thrum, then powerful sucking of a void opening up. The hags are gone, destroyed by the Green Man the same way Lady Vel did the day before. More combat, chasing down Diviticus. He drops as missiles of pure energy strike from afar, Timmy's magic. An immediate squabble between Chicago and Timmy, each wanting Diviticus' horned hat while Nanfoodle holds a discussion with the Green Man. He has obtained Diviticus' staff, a powerful artifact.
The Green Man says he was trapped in that wood centuries ago, taken by Diviticus to start a false druid's circle. He then tasks Nanfoodle with healing nature and killing fake druids. To do this he gives the halfling a small seed, extraordinarily golden and said to be the seed of the Tree of Life. The staff carries two large presences within it, the serpent god Ygg, and the essence of the Siege Perilous.
Chicago has finally won the hat, racing away from Timmy. We pull more things off of the corpse, and discover a large tome, a strange dagger, and an amulet. We decide to head back to Camelot before examining things further. The city is rejoicing, the Picts fled or assimilated. I discover more about my country and my Knights. Astelot is the second seat of power. Three cities to the north, Hadrian, Umber, and Gwent are all destroyed cities. Before the Picts and Diviticus invaded there was a great wall protecting Brittania from the evil woods. It has been destroyed.
The Knights of the Round Table that still are in the city are Sir Lionel, Sir Bors, Lady Vel, Sir Draco, Sir Socks, and Sir Hans, who was not able to participate in the battle. He was cursed by a witch and is a humanoid frog, as small as a regular frog, instead of the dwarf he once was. He was disappointed to learn that Diviticus was dead and that his curse was not lifted. The Questing Knights are King Pellinore, Aglovale the Black, Erik the Red, Hellan the White, Bert the Green, and Nimueh the Blue. When asked about the giant broom we were informed it was enslaved, it dropped off witches and barbarians, then flew south towards its home.
Lionel and Bors both want to be the General in Camelot, Lady Vel wants to be the Magister, Draco, the Spymaster. Already two positions in the court are filled, a mister Svart is the Quartermaster, and a madame Alfwyn is the Librarian. While I decide on positions of the Knights in the court Nanfoodle examines the gear from Diviticus. His amulet is a communication device with the Crawling Chaos. The name of it is the Shining Trapezohedron. Sevarin starts translating the book, written in Aklo. It is The Jubilations and Exaltations of the Dark Tapestry. It has spells and rituals. Lore, Eldritch Entities, Strange Geometries, and who rules the Dreamlands and how. The book also details the dagger Diviticus was using, a core component of many rituals in the book. It is the Quill of the Tapestry.
I've decided how the court shall be filled while I am away. Multiple ticking clocks force my hand. Bors will be my Diplomat, Lionel my General. Draco, despite my misgivings, my Spymaster, Hans, the Treasurer. Alfwyn and Svart will remain in their positions, and Lady Vel will be the magister. I also appoint her the Steward of Camelot until my return with the Questing Knights. She is rather pleased with that development. Socks wants to use Camelot's resources to attack the Cats of Ulthar and take back the Goblin's totems. I inform him that the city, and the country is too divided to accomplish that at the moment.
We discuss our next move as we perform more research. Camelot once had a robust transportation circle system in place, able to reach cities halfway across the Dream World in a blink. They are destroyed now, but may be fixed in the future. Seravin does research on magic weapons to bolster his fighting prowess and discovers tales of Clarent, the Holy Avenger, Frostbrand, Flametongue, and more. We discover Sir Hans Ribbetweed wields the Hammer of Thunderbolts and it is currently his size as well. Nanfoodle discovers some locations to plant the Tree of Life, specifically Mnar, and the Plateau of Leng.
Our destination, for the moment, is the Red and Pleasant Land. The others convince me that we should also be looking for the flying castle, as a form of transportation. Timmy thinks he can make it faster with the great North and South winds of Ithaqua. We begin our journey shortly and spend two and a half days on the road to Astelot. Along the way we hear tales of a new King of the Goblins, probably Lefty, the Cats of Ulthar gearing up for war, and the flying castle, slowly coming down to the ground. It drops lower and lower each day, shedding spores like snow, and leaving mushrooms in its wake. It carves trenches in hills that are too high for their own good.
We continue our journey, spending three more days travelling to Gwent. Along the way I point out some injured birds to Nanfoodle, who heals them with his magic. They say they hit a solid cloud and were chased away from it by Mi-Go. Nanfoodle is declared a friend of Ravens everywhere. We pass a slow moving wagon train, heading in the same direction. Hear about a local warlord, rebuilding fortifications in Gwent. Aukan decides to put on his amulet and scares them back to Astelot. We can see Gwent at the end of the third day in the distance. We see activity and fires, the stones of its once mighty buildings now scattered around. It has been rebuilt in wood. We set a watch through the night.
Chicago sees a group of armed men approaching in the morning, just before dawn. He wakes us and we prepare ourselves. The men, realizing how…potent we could prove in combat, choose discourse over violence. They agree to take us to Warlord Guy while commenting on how funny of a Court Fool Chicago is, and how amazing the talking bear in the party is. I didn't have the heart to tell them that Chicago runs his mouth and that Timmy is not a bear.
We are brought to the largest structure in town, a longhall. Inside, seated on a wooden horned throne is a large old man. The discussion is tense. I inform him I will demand his respect when we return with the Grail in hand.
We continue on and start moving off the road, continuing north. Ravens help keep funguys away from our camp. Nanfoodle learns more from the birds. The castle has landed in the Spore Fields, where the fungus is starting to destroy nature. The Spore Fields are a three and a half day journey from our location. We decide to head there. On the second day we cross a road near a bridge and discover a small settlement of goblins. We are informed it is called Splat's Crossing and that the floating castle did pass by. They want a toll for crossing the bridge, but we don't have to cross it. They seem a bit put out.
Spores in the air. Cloth over our faces, wet with our waterskins to keep the air we breathe pure. We continue travelling, the local fungus making travel difficult. Eventually we spy the castle. An enormous mushroom grows from the top of it. It is surrounded by Mushroom Men, holding hands and…singing? The castle appears open so we approach it. There are not only mushroom men in the circle. Mushroom deer, rabbits, animals of all shapes and sizes. Even some flora. All living things are being converted into mushrooms. We start sizing up the distance we'll have to go to get into the castle. The ring stands 80 feet away from it.
Suddenly a small mushroom person approaches us from the circle. We say we are here to see Gobogeg and are immediately granted access. The castle is heavy with sporeclouds. Inside we are greeted by a Fuan, whose ribcage is torn open, and a mushroom is clearly seen replacing its heart. Chicago starts discussing forming a Pact with Gobogeg, the Faun tells us to see him ourselves.
We can't even get into the throne room anymore. It is one giant mushroom stalk, wit six eyes and three mouths. The first mutters, the second exhumes spores, and the third talks in Aklo to us. "MORE SUPPLICANTS FOR THE MOONBREAKER". Nanfoodle touches Gobogeg with his staff and immediately begins shuddering. Something so small begins absorbing something so large. There's no space. There's no space! Nothing should be happening, why? Why? Why can this small stick contain such a large presence? Too much! Too too much. It can't happen. Wait.
My castle. My kingdom! If I'm here who is there to protect it? I must go back. Protect it from those thieving Knights and that Warlord Guy. I can't let them have it. It's mine! By birthright! By the sword on my hip, the blood in my veins.
Something presses on my feet, then my back. My eyes open to discover the castle has shot up into the sky! I turn towards Camelot. I must go back.
5 August 1930
I wake painfully, Caliburn poking out of the bed sheets as my thoughts are consumed. I must get back…
[zombify_post]
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